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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069499">Rule of Three</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashforeward/pseuds/flashforeward'>flashforeward</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gravity Falls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, F/F, Frenemies, Kidnapping, References to Depression, Weirdmageddon, frenemies to lovers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 00:28:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,340</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069499</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashforeward/pseuds/flashforeward</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Mabel is so over boys, Pacifica definitely doesn’t have a crush on that weirdo, and they’re both going to have to be honest if they want to save the town. Again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pacifica Northwest/Mabel Pines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>85</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom Trumps Hate 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Are You Sure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harlequinade13/gifts">Harlequinade13</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Harlequinade13 for Fandom Trumps Hate. Thank you for the excellent prompt and for your patience as I got this written!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Are you sure?"</p>
<p>Their mom has asked this every summer since their original trip to Gravity Falls. It probably wouldn't bother Mabel as much if they had been given a choice the first time, but now that they actually want to go their parents are less certain of the decision.</p>
<p>"Of course we're sure," Dipper says, hiking his backpack higher up on his shoulder. He glances at Mabel and grins. "Right, sis?"</p>
<p>Mabel grins back and nods. "Right!" And she turns and leads the way out the door.</p>
<p>Next year they'll be able to drive themselves instead of having to take the bus, and Mabel can't wait. But this summer they're still fifteen and sans licenses, so they have to rely on their mom to take them to the station. They already have their tickets, though. Mabel bought them when she wasn't sure if they'd be allowed to go – back when Dipper got himself grounded for making plans with Grunkle Ford late into the night instead of doing his homework.</p>
<p>Mabel wasn't above sneaking out and running away for another summer with her best friends, so she'd saved up money from selling some of her knitting creations and got two one-way tickets to Gravity falls.</p>
<p>When their parents found out, their mom made her buy return tickets, too.</p>
<p>"I don't want you thinking you'll be staying year round," she said.</p>
<p>Mabel sighs and leans her forehead against the cool glass of the window, watching the trees whip past. Dipper won the coin toss this morning which puts him in the front seat. Not that Mabel actually minds that much. She can sprawl out in the back and take up as much space as she wants.</p>
<p>The older she gets, the less space she's expected to take up and she's sick of being boxed up and told to stay in the lines.</p>
<p>It's one of the reasons she's stopped dating. The boys she's dated think she's too much and if they can't handle all of her then she says to hell with them. The girls she's dated haven't liked her any better, though, so Mabel swore off romance forever.</p>
<p>(<em>"Not even day dreaming about boy bands?" Dipper had asked. "Especially not day dreaming about boy bands," Mabel replied</em>.)</p>
<p>It's strictly platonic relationships for Mabel from here on out. And sibling bonding with Dipper, of course. If there's one good – and kind of bad – thing about having a twin, it's that you can never get rid of them.</p>
<p>"You're sure about this?" their mother asks <em>again</em> when they get to the bus station and Mabel doesn't even dignify that with a response. She just gets out of the car and leaves Dipper to answer, though she isn't sure if he does. She doesn't care. She's sick of that question. <em>Are you sure</em>?</p>
<p><em>Are you sure</em> you want to wear that color?</p>
<p><em>Are you sure </em>you want to date that guy? Or that girl?</p>
<p><em>Are you sure</em> you're ready to go to the mall alone?</p>
<p><em>Are you sure</em> you want to spend the summer in a small town in the middle-of-nowhere in the Pacific Northwest?</p>
<p>Mabel Pines <em>is</em> sure and she's sick of having to constantly reassure everyone around her that while <em>yes</em> she's only fifteen, she <em>does</em> know what she wants.</p>
<p>And what she wants is to go back to Gravity Falls for another summer with her best friends.</p>
<p>Candy, Grenda, and even Pacifica have been texting asking when they're arriving and Mabel refuses to let them down. She refuses to let her mother pressure her into staying at boring old home for the summer where she'll do unimaginative day camps and sit in her room knitting for hours because all her friends are at proper summer camps or lake houses or cozied up with their boyfriends or girlfriends.</p>
<p>Besides, while she loves her friends here, she sees them all year. She only gets to see Candy and Grenda and, okay, Pacifica, once a year and she won't lose that for anything.</p>
<p>"You could have said goodbye," Dipper says when he catches back up to her. He hands her a paper bag. 'Mom packed us lunch."</p>
<p>Mabel grunts out her acknowledgment and shrugs, taking the paper bag. So she probably should have said goodbye to her mom, but it isn't like they're not going to talk on the phone. She isn't cutting her parents out or anything, she's just... She's fifteen years old and she knows what she wants and she wishes she could open the bus window and scream it out for the world to hear.</p>
<p>She wants to go to Gravity Falls, damn it!</p>
<p>Twelve year old Mabel would absolutely have done that. But twelve year old Mabel didn't know how important Gravity Falls was yet. And fifteen year old Mabel knows what kinds of looks she'll get if she indulges her desire. So instead she just slouches down in the seat next to Dipper, ignoring his worried glances, and glares at the blue sky and the puffy clouds.</p>
<p>"Hey," Dipper says quietly a few minutes into the ride, "I know."</p>
<p>Mabel glances at him and gives him a small smile, because he <em>does</em> know. He's just as invested in their spending the summer up in Gravity Falls as she is. Not just because of his own friends but also the research he and Grunkle Ford will work on while Mabel helps out at the Mystery Shack. It's the one time of year their Grunkles spend in Gravity Falls now, too, and that's another reason they want to go.</p>
<p>Because whatever their mother says, their Grunkles are the best and they're absolutely cut out to take care of two teenagers.</p>
<p>And the two teenagers are definitely cut out to take care of their Grunkles.</p>
<p>Mabel leans her head on Dipper's shoulder, gaze still fixed on the sky rushing past, and drifts off to sleep.</p>
<p>
  <em>Sometimes Mabel still dreams of weirdmageddon.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She dreams of her bubble, her safety net.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And she dreams of Bill Cipher.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He crawls through the membrane into her dream world. His triangular body cuts through it like a knife, tearing it apart and sending all of Mabel's mind creations scattering. He's laughing, his eye a dark red as he spreads his arms and walks towards her. Her image of him stutters and he's Dipper and then he's Bill again and then he's Dipper but with Bill's voice and his eyes are red and his hat doesn't have a pine tree on it anymore but a yellow triangle and he's telling Mabel her time's up and he just keeps repeating it. Something about an hourglass and the rule of three and-</em>
</p>
<p>"Mabel!" Dipper's shaking her by the shoulder and she starts awake, pulling away from him, recoiling in a way that makes him frown. "We're here and," he licks his lips, glances away, then meets her gaze again. "You were having a nightmare. Is everything okay?"</p>
<p>Mabel forces a smile and nods. "Everything is perfectly perfect, brother!" she says, forcing her voice to be chipper and cheerful, the Mabel everyone expects. "Let's go see what mischief our Grunkles have planned for us!' She scoops her bag up over her shoulder and pushes Dipper into the aisle so he'll stop looking at her like that.</p>
<p>When they get off the bus, Soos is waiting with a cardboard sign with their names on it and a big grin on his face.</p>
<p>Mabel smiles for real this time and rushes forward to hug him. He laughs and scoops her up, swinging her around and then depositing her in the bed of his truck. "Look how tall you are, dude!" he says, giving her a high five and then turning to give one to Dipper as he comes up beside the truck. "Dude, look how tall your sister's getting!"</p>
<p>Dipper chuckles and shakes his head. "I'm taller," he says, dumping his bag and backpack into the bed, then reaching up to help Mabel back down.</p>
<p>"I'm going to ride back here," Mabel says, waving off DIpper's hand and sitting down amongst their bags and the general detritus strewn around.</p>
<p>Dipper frowns. "That's not really safe, Mabel."</p>
<p>"Don't worry about it, Dude," Soos says, opening the driver's side door and climbing in. "Shacks on far, she'll be fine."</p>
<p>Dipper gives Mabel one last frowning glance before shaking his head and rounding the truck to climb in next to Soos, then they rumble off down the road towards the Mystery Shack.</p>
<p>Mabel lays in the back of the truck, using Dipper's bag as a pillow, and gazes up at the clouds in the sky, picking out shapes and images in their fluffy whiteness. A bunny, a whale, a unicorn.</p>
<p>Bill Cipher shaking hands with Dipper.</p>
<p>She sits up with a start, shaking her head and pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to banish the image from her mind. Bill Cipher is <em>gone</em>, defeated almost four years ago by herself, Dipper, their Grunkles, their friends. This whole stupid town rose up against that demon triangle and there's no way he's coming back. She <em>knows</em> it.</p>
<p>But she can't get him out of her head.</p>
<p>She'd thought the nightmares were finally over, fading away as time passed and she worked with a therapist who didn't know even half of what had actually happened, but as this summer's trip drew closer they started happening again until...Until every time she closes her eyes, Bill Cipher is waiting for her.</p>
<p>He's gone. Definitely, absolutely gone.</p>
<p>Whatever else is wrong in Gravity falls, whatever other weirdness they will face, it won't be Bill Cipher.</p>
<p>The truck grinds to a halt and Mabel pulls in a deep breath, burying her fears and worries and plastering on the grin everyone expects. She jumps out of the truck bed and rushes towards the shack, past the shoppers and gawkers and into the waiting arms of her Grunkles.</p>
<p>Stan and Ford look the same as always. Maybe Stan's a little tanner and that might be a peeling sunburn on Ford's neck, but otherwise they don't seem to have changed. Last summer, Dipper made a joke about them finding some sort of immortality fountain and they hadn't given an actual answer so Mabel's not sure if they <em>did</em> or if they were just humoring Dipper.</p>
<p>But it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Not now, as she hugs her Grunkles tight and doesn't really listen to their greetings, just relishes the fact that she's here again. That she gets to spend another summer at the Mystery Shack.</p>
<p>"And here's Dipper!" Ford says, breaking out of Mabel's hug to fist-bump with Dipper. Stan musses Mabel's hair as she passes to give Dipper a high five and they're all together again and if Mabel can just keep her mind from wandering it'll be just like old times.</p>
<p>Almost just like the first time, but with Stan <em>and</em> Ford instead of just Stan.</p>
<p>But she's never been good at keeping her mind from wandering.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna take our bags upstairs," she says. She ignores Dipper's quizzical look as she takes his backpack and duffel from him and heads up to their attic bedroom. Last year, Stan had offered them separate rooms, but they'd both declined. They don't share a room at home anymore, but something about Gravity Falls makes sharing a room feel safer.</p>
<p>She sets Dipper's bag down by his bed, then tosses hers onto her own before following it. She curls up, wrapping her sweater around her and staring hard at the window, trying to quiet her racing thoughts. It's been worse the closer they got to town, she knows. That dream on the bus and then the clouds. She just doesn't know <em>why</em> or what any of it means – because it definitely means <em>something</em>.</p>
<p>But she just needs to push it all out of her mind and get back to being her bubbly self before she goes off to meet up with Grenda and Candy and maybe Pacifica – none of them are sure yet if she'll come. Not even Pacifica. (And Mabel definitely doesn't care either way). She just can't let her friends – or her brother or her Grunkles – see her like this.</p>
<p>She crosses her legs and presses her hands against her knees, focusing on the feel of the denim beneath her palms and the way the bed is familiar and how the light from the window plays on the floor. She breathes in a few deep breaths, counting down from ten. When she reaches one, she uncurls from the bed and stretches out the kinks in her back and legs, then squares her shoulders and heads back downstairs.</p>
<p>She can do this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Out of the Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pacifica Northwest doesn't want to be here. Obviously. From her expression to the phone in her hand, she's making it abundantly clear that she has better things to do than spend time with these weirdos.</p>
<p>At least.</p>
<p>She <em>hopes</em> she is.</p>
<p>Because she doesn't. She definitely doesn't want to be in Mabel Pines's attic bedroom with Mabel, Grenda, and Candy playing old 90s board games and listening to the latest synthpop boy groups. She's definitely not having fun trying to figure out the <em>Eighties Memories</em> section of the trivia game Grenda found in a dusty box in the back of the closest thrift store. And she doesn't think Candy's latest inventions for "Improving the Species" are in any way interesting – no, not even the glasses that mean you can see your phone and the people you're talking to at the same time, which would definitely not be great even if they didn't give her and everyone else who's tried them motion sickness.</p>
<p>And she definitely, <em>definitely</em> doesn't like Mabel's latest array of sweaters. Not even the one with an altered version of her family crest on it that has her profile in the center. In fact, she thinks, it's kind of weird that Mabel made her a sweater in the first place. What, does she think they're friends now?</p>
<p><em>God</em>.</p>
<p>This is going to be the worst summer ever.</p>
<p>"It's your turn, Pacifica, Mabel says, her voice breaking through Pacifica's thoughts. With a put-upon sigh, Pacifica returns her phone to her purse and her attention to the board game. It's a pop culture trivia game that was made in the 90s for people who were kids in the 80s and they have a 'no search engines' house rule, so whoever has the most retro trivia stored in their brains usually wins.</p>
<p>So far, Candy is in the lead.</p>
<p>Pacifica rolls the dice and moves her piece – it's pink, she always picks pink – and waits for Mabel to read her question.</p>
<p>"What iconic characters used time travel to do a history project? A. Wayne, B. Bill and Ted, or C. Marty McFly."</p>
<p>Pacifica sighs. "Uh, Marty McFly, duh."</p>
<p>Candy snorts. "Have you even <em>seen</em> Back to the Future?"</p>
<p>Pacifica glares across at her and picks her phone back up. Screw this. She didn't want to play this stupid game anyway!</p>
<p>"Do you want to try?" Mabel asks Candy and Pacifica tries not to notice the way Mabel keeps glancing across the circle at her, the way her eyes flick away if she thinks Pacifica is looking, the way she seems to care that Pacifica isn't having fun.</p>
<p>Because they aren't friends, damn it!</p>
<p>"The answer is B, Bill and Ted, from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which was followed by Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," Candy recites. "Truly excellent movies."</p>
<p>"We should watch them!" Grenda crows.</p>
<p>Pacifica bites back a sigh. She <em>definitely</em> doesn't want to watch some lame eighties movies, especially not with these losers. "If we're just going to watch movies, I'm going home." She stands, stretching.</p>
<p>"Pacifica! You can't!" Mabel scrambles up and grabs her wrist. "You just got here and it's early and we're having a sleepover! It's not a sleepover if you don't...sleep over."</p>
<p>Pacifica pulls her wrist from Mabel's grip and shakes her head. "I didn't want to come anyway. I have better things to do." She tries not to notice the way Mabel's face falls as she walks out of the room.</p>
<p>She avoids Dipper's eyes as she weaves her way through the straggling last call shoppers at the Mystery Shack and out the door into the cool evening air. She really did leave early, and she really didn't want to. She sighs and starts out towards town, her head bowed and her hands deep in her pockets. She doesn't know why she does this. Why she bails on things she's really enjoying just because she figures it's expected of her. She's so used to being contrary and being, well, popular and mean about it, and not being genuinely nice to people who aren't <em>her kind of people</em> has been so ingrained in her that she still has trouble just... being a decent person.</p>
<p>She sighs and turns around, already texting Mabel as she heads back towards the shack. <em>Sorry</em>, she types, <em>I'll be back up in a minute. I think I just needed air</em>. It's a cop out and a lie but she's not sure she can explain this to Mabel, not where her mind is regarding the other girl, not right now.</p>
<p>Maybe...maybe she can talk to Dipper?</p>
<p>It's probably weird, talking to your crush's brother about why you're so fucked up around her, but -</p>
<p>She freezes, gripping her phone tight. <em>Crush</em>. She's never even admitted it to herself before, that she likes Mabel, that she'd like to try dating Mabel maybe. She's been avoiding thinking about it all year and she was set to ignore it all summer and just be her usual acerbic self and then Mabel would go home and Pacifica could not think about her for another year but now. Now she's admitted it to herself and it's kind of a lot and she really isn't sure what to do next.</p>
<p>That's when the triangle eats her.</p>
<p>She's standing there on the path almost back to the Mystery Shack when a shadow descends up on her and she looks up to see a massive yellow triangle falling out of the sky. For some reason, it has an eye. For some reason, that eye is glowing red. Maniacal laughter surrounds Pacifica and the triangle and its shadow envelop her and Pacifica Northwest is gone.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>When Mabel goes outside later to see what's taking Pacifica so long to come back, all she finds is Pacifica's phone.</p>
<p>The camera is open. It's been recording.</p>
<p>Mabel runs inside, shouting Dipper's name. The tourists have all finally left and Grenda and Candy are upstairs and Mabel knows she should go back up and tell them that something's happened and it's probably safer if they have Soos drive them home, but first. First she has to show this to Dipper.</p>
<p>"What is it?" Dipper asks, eyes wide as he crashes into Mabel, running from the other direction.</p>
<p>"You have to watch this!" Mabel opens the video and hits play and together they watch as a giant Bill Cipher lands on top of Pacifica.</p>
<p>"That's impossible," Dipper whispers.</p>
<p>Mabel bites her lip and doesn't meet Dipper's gaze. "I've, uh, been having dreams about him," she says.</p>
<p>"What?!"</p>
<p>"I thought it was just memories, you know? PTSD or whatever. But. With this? I guess," she shrugs. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to think I couldn't handle it."</p>
<p>"Mabel! I <em>know</em> you can handle it I just. You know I'm here to <em>help </em>you handle it."</p>
<p>"I know." There's a pause then, "What do we do?"</p>
<p>"We should probably tell Grunkle Ford. And see if there's anything more in the journals. And maybe-"</p>
<p>"We are not summoning him."</p>
<p>"I wasn't going to say that!" But Dipper glances down guiltily and Mabel knows he was.</p>
<p>She punches his shoulder gently. "We'll do it some other way," she says. "Let me get Soos to drive Grenda and Candy home and then we can get to work, okay?"</p>
<p>Dipper nods. "And Mabel?" he calls before she disappears up the stairs. She turns back and he holds up his hand like he's a boy scout or something. "We'll get her back. I promise."</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Grenda and Candy want to stay and help, but Mabel insists they go.</p>
<p>"We're not doing anything yet anyway, just planning, and you guys need your beauty sleep so go!" Mabel says, ushering them out the door and into Soos's truck.</p>
<p>"But call us the moment you know anything!" Grenda says.</p>
<p>"We're helping, whether you like it or not," Candy adds as the truck roars away.</p>
<p>Mabel heaves a sigh of relief and heads back inside. She hits the button on the vending machine and it opens up to reveal the now familiar staircase. Sometimes she can't believe how long it's been since she first went down into Ford's secret lab. She remembers it so vividly, descending into the strange darkness, finding Grunkle Stan's secret, worrying they couldn't trust him...And deciding they could. She put so much on the line that day. If her trust had been misplaced...</p>
<p>But no.</p>
<p>Grunkle Stan came through, they got Grunkle Ford back. Sure, it wasn't as simple as that and the world was a little topsy-turvy for awhile, but in the end they'd saved the world, hadn't they?</p>
<p>"I've loaded the footage into the computer," Dipper says as Mabel joins him in the lab. "The picture will be larger and maybe we'll spot something we missed." She sits down beside him and he plays the video again.</p>
<p>And again.</p>
<p>And again.</p>
<p>Over and over they watch that triangle descend, over and over they watch Pacifica's world go black.</p>
<p>"This isn't helping!" Mabel says, pushing her chair back away from the desk. "We're not going to find anything just by watching Bill take her over and over again."</p>
<p>"Hey," Dipper places a hand on Mabel's forearm and holds her gaze, "hey, if we know one thing for sure we know it can't be Bill. He's gone, remember? We defeated him and his minions and we sent them back to their dimension."</p>
<p>"It was him, Dipper." Mabel knows it. "It's been him in my dreams, it was him tonight. Bill Cipher has Pacifica."</p>
<p>And, she doesn't add, he’s not going to let her go. Not without a fight.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Hundred Miles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Play it again?" Grunkle Ford says. And that's when Mabel gets up and storms out of the lab and back up the stairs to the dark Mystery Shack.</p>
<p>"Hey, Mabel!" Stan follows her up, settles a gentle hand on her shoulder and turns her to face him. She hiccups a sob and collapses into his arms. "Hey, hey, hey, it'll be okay."</p>
<p>It won't, though. It won't and she knows it won't and she can't handle it. They had their chance to defeat Bill and they failed and now Pacifica is paying the price. So she just leans against her Grunkle and sobs and lets him awkwardly hold her and pat her back and tell her lies.</p>
<p>"It'll be okay."</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>"Do you think it's Bill?" Dipper asks.</p>
<p>"I don't see how it can be." Grunkle Ford has leaned so far forward his face is practically pressed up to the computer screen. He's played the footage so many times Dipper's starting to think he knows how Mabel feels. Maybe not to the same extent but...</p>
<p>Pacifica is his friend too. As much as Pacifica <em>has</em> friends.</p>
<p>"It is though, isn't it?"</p>
<p>Ford sighs and leans back, pausing the video. "I think it is, Dipper," he says. "I really think it is."</p>
<p>"But. How?"</p>
<p>"I don't know. He must have found another way through."</p>
<p>Dipper sits in silence for a moment, staring at the paused image on the screen, the triangular shadow descending. "Could it be Gideon?"</p>
<p>"I don't think even he would be that foolish."</p>
<p>"Then...who?"</p>
<p>The ritual was only ever recorded in Ford's journal, and shortly after they defeated Bill, Ford tore the page out and burned it. Besides Gideon, as far as they knew no one else had ever attempted to summon Bill. And Ford is probably right, Dipper thinks, even Gideon wouldn't be that foolish. <em>Couldn't</em> be that foolish.</p>
<p>Except.</p>
<p>"We should probably ask him anyway.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Mabel insists on going. Dipper tries to slip out without her but she spots him leaving and tags along and though he tries not to tell her where they're going, she knows him too well and eventually asks all the right questions to piece it together herself.</p>
<p>"If that little slime did it," she growls as they walk through the forest.</p>
<p>"We're pretty sure he didn't."</p>
<p>"Yeah, but if he <em>did</em>, I'm going to make him wish we'd never met."</p>
<p>Dipper doesn't mention that Gideon probably already wishes that, considering everything he's gone through since the Pines twins entered his life. He doesn't particularly want to draw any of Mabel's anger his way.</p>
<p>Instead, he asks, "So, you and Pacifica have gotten close?"</p>
<p>This, apparently, was the wrong choice.</p>
<p>Mabel shrugs and shoves her hands into her pockets. "We hung out," she says, gaze fixed on the ground at their feet. "When she could be bothered to hang out with us, anyway."</p>
<p>Dipper scratches at the back of his neck, not sure how to broach any of the questions he has for his sister. In the end, he decides it's better if he just leaves them be for now. They can discuss it after Pacifica is safe, if Mabel wants to then. If there's anything to discuss then. If they can save Pacifica.</p>
<p>Dipper shakes his head, banishing the defeatist attitude threatening to creep up on him. He can't think like that, can't think that there's any chance they won't get Pacifica back, because that way lies despair and he had enough of despair when he was twelve.</p>
<p>He's fifteen now and he's smarter and he's not going to give up until Pacifica is safe and Bill Cipher is banished back to his dimension. For good this time.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Gideon almost slams the door in their faces, but Mabel shoves her foot between the door and the jamb and glares through the crack at Gideon. He's gotten taller and a little skinnier, but his hair is still cut the same and he still wears the same suits so he doesn't look all that different from the first time they met him.</p>
<p>"What do you want, Pines?" he asks with an affected air of disinterest.</p>
<p>"Pacifica," Mabel growls.</p>
<p>"Have you been summoning Bill Cipher?" Dipper asks.</p>
<p>Gideon goes pale, which is fairly impressive considering how pale he is already. He steps back, shaking and stuttering. "No. N-no. I would n-never. No. Not. Not again."</p>
<p>Mabel and Dipper stand on the doorstep and watch him, then Mabel turns and walks away. Dipper watches her over his shoulder for a moment before he quietly apologizes to Gideon for upsetting him and then hurries after his sister.</p>
<p>"Mabel," Dipper asks when he catches up to her, "Mabel are you okay?"</p>
<p>"No!" Mabel shouts, coming to a halt and turning to glare at Dipper. "No, I'm not. Pacifica's gone and it's my fault because I ignored my nightmares because I thought maybe for once they were just normal dreams not prophetic visions! My friend is <em>gone</em>, Dipper, and I could have stopped it!" She breaks down into sobs and Dipper wraps her in his arms, holding her close as she shakes. He doesn't say anything, just lets her cry.</p>
<p>There's nothing he can say anyway, not really. He could assure her that it isn't her fault – it isn't – but she won't believe him. So he's just doing what he can to be there for her.</p>
<p>"We're not done," he says. "We'll find her, I promise." It isn't a promise he's sure he can keep, but it's one he knows he has to make.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Her dream that night doesn't wake her up, but she wishes it did.</p>
<p>She's wandering through the dark night, still in her pajamas, feet bare. She has a flashlight and her grappling hook and she leaves the Mystery Shack and heads outside at a sleepy shuffle. Down the porch steps, the grass cool against her feet, off into the woods. She doesn't turn the flashlight on, so she isn't sure why she brought it. She doesn't need it, the moon is shining down bright and full. She follows a path for awhile but eventually she's just weaving through the trees. She hears things in the darkness around her, whispers and cries, but she stays focused ahead of her, making her way towards...something.</p>
<p>She hopes it's Pacifica, but she has no clue.</p>
<p>The clearing shines with an unnatural golden light and Bill Cipher stands in the middle, grinning at her, arms wide like he wants a hug.</p>
<p>"Shooting Star!" he says when she stops in front of him. "It's been too long, hasn't it? How I've missed," his eye goes red, "tormenting you!"</p>
<p>"How?" Mabel asks, voice a barely audible whisper.</p>
<p>"Oh, that doesn't matter. What matters is I'm here now and we get to play again!"</p>
<p>Mabel shakes her head. "Give Pacifica back."</p>
<p>Bill laughs and he rises up into the air, taking his golden glow with him as he floats up past the tops of the trees and off into the night, leaving Mabel in a darkness deeper than any she's every experienced. She flicks on the flashlight, shines it around the clearing, it's bright for a moment then it flickers and dies and Mabel sinks to her knees in the dirt, sobbing.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"Dipper," Mabel whispers, shaking him awake. "I had another dream."</p>
<p>He sits up and rubs his eyes, trying to wake himself up a little more while he listens to Mabel's dream. He has no idea what it means and neither does Mabel and when she's done talking him through it they sit together on his bed in silence, listening to the night noises and trying to understand what exactly is happening.</p>
<p>Nothing makes any sense, though, and Dipper's scared they're never going to solve this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Kids Aren't All Right</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mabel almost doesn’t leave a note.</p>
<p>She doesn’t want Dipper – or her Grunkles – to follow her into the woods and she knows if she leaves a note they will. But she also doesn’t want them to worry when they wake up and she’s gone, so she jots a quick note – <em> went to check something – </em> and heads out into the dark forest. She knows there’s something in there, whether it’s Bill or something wearing Bill’s face, and whatever it is it knows what’s happened to Pacifica and Mabel Pines <em> will </em> find the answer.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Pacifica sits above the trees and gazes out at the clear night sky. All she can see are leaves swaying in the breeze and the stars speckling the sky. She doesn’t remember getting here, only remembers leaving Mabel’s in a huff for no real reason before waking up wherever she is.</p>
<p>And wherever she is sucks.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Dipper is angry and worried and upset and Ford won’t let him go after Mabel <em> “Because we don’t actually know where she’s gone” </em> which is the only thing Dipper wants to do. Besides, he has a pretty good guess where she is, if he could just slip away, but Ford and Stan are both watching him like hawks and he should tell them about Mabel’s dreams but he doesn’t want to worry them more so he’s just stuck in the mystery shack wishing he could do <em> something </em>.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>The clearing isn’t anything like it was in her dream. For one thing, Bill isn’t there. It’s bright, but only because the sun has caught just the right angle through the trees to light it up with a soft greenish glow, but there’s no sign of demonic triangles anywhere. There’s also a tower, looming up into the sky. There’s no door, just the etching of a triangle in the stone work where one would be, the only sign Bill Cipher has anything to do with this.</p>
<p>Mabel raises her grappling hook and shoots it up towards a top she cannot see, but it only pings off stone and falls back to the ground.</p>
<p>“What the fuck?” a familiar voice calls, faint and far away.</p>
<p>Mabel’s heart feels like it stops. “Pacifica?” she shouts, but no answer comes.</p>
<p>Either Bill is toying with her or Pacifica is really up there. Or, she considers, looking at the triangle carving, both.</p>
<p>Probably both.</p>
<p>She retracts her grappling hook and sets it aside before stepping back so she can look up and up and up at the tower. She can’t see where the top is, can’t see any windows or openings. She circles it, but it remains impossibly tall and completely impregnable.</p>
<p>So she does the only thing she can think of: she pushes on the triangle.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>A hundred miles away and right next door, Bill Cipher laughs.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Pacifica goes cold, her whole body falling numb and still as she settles back onto the bed by the window. She wants to ask what is happening, she wants to cry out and scream, but she cannot move and cannot speak and her eyes fall closed against her will and she lies there not sleeping.</p>
<p>Waiting.</p>
<p>Afraid.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>A door appears in the side of the tower and Mabel steps through it onto the first step of a staircase that spirals up into the darkness. It’s an impossible distance up, she knows. There’s no way she can climb all those stairs in enough time. But the tower itself is impossible, Bill Cipher is impossible, her entire life in Gravity Falls has been impossible. So she squares her shoulders and she starts up the stairs.</p>
<p>When she comes to the first landing, she wishes she were surprised by what she finds there. It’s the latest boy band sensation. A Korean pop group that everyone adores and Mabel would too if she weren’t trying so hard to not be like she always has been. One of them winks at her as they sing and reaches out, beckoning for her to join them. She almost does. Almost gives in to that childhood dream of being on stage with her favorite boy band, holding their undivided attention as she rocked their hit songs.</p>
<p>But she shakes her head and steps back onto the stairs, continuing up and away. The music fades as she climbs and she misses it more than a little.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Pacifica may not be asleep, but she is dreaming. She’s dreaming of Mabel Pines and why the hell is she dreaming of Mabel Pines? Dreaming of her coming through the window after battling a dragon and waking Pacifica with a kiss, then carrying her down flights and flights of stairs and out into the shining sun. Dreaming of waking up in Mabel’s arms and kissing her deeply as they stand in the forest clearing, animals bowing to them and gnomes cheering.</p>
<p>This is not a dream Pacifica wants.</p>
<p>(But it is a dream she’s had before).</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Dipper is furious.</p>
<p>He tried to sneak out like Mabel did, slip away from the packed Mystery Shack and off into the woods, but his Grunkles expected that and now he is working the register and being watched like a hawk by Stan, Soos, and Ford.</p>
<p>He just wants his sister and their friend back. Waiting until the grown ups have enough information to make a plan is going to take too long.</p>
<p>But now he’s stuck.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Bill Cipher is still laughing. Lounging in the darkness of his dimension, reaching between worlds, manipulating his pawns. He has too many tricks up his sleeve to fail this time.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>The second landing is full of yarn. Mabel considers running and jumping into the pile of soft fibers that fills the room before her. She thinks of how nice it would be to just settle down among the skeins and begin working on some projects. She’s already thinking of a few different designs she could do, her foot almost off the step, when she remembers the sweaters she made for Grenda and Candy and Pacifica and how much fun it was to make things for her friends and see them wear them.</p>
<p>And she thinks of Pacifica trying to look indifferent as she pulled on her sweater, but not being able to hide the slightest of smiles.</p>
<p>And Mabel turns and continues up the stairs.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>This time, Bill stops laughing.</p>
<p>Shooting Star may take more concentration than he thought.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Pacifica dreams of Dipper.</p>
<p>He busts through the side of the tower – missing the window by several feet – and he swoops in and scoops Pacifica up from her bed. He runs down the stairs and out into a cold, rainy night. Pacifica doesn’t wake, no matter how many times he kisses her. She doesn’t stir at all, and Dipper kneels in the soggy grass and sobs. There are no animals or gnomes to hear.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>On the third landing is Lil Gideon. He’s standing on a stage with his amulet, running his usual scam. As far as Mabel knows, he hasn’t been doing that since their first summer in Gravity Falls. Mabel wants to shout at the crowd, tell them none of this is real and he just wants their money, when she remembers that none of this <em>is</em> real. She’s climbing this tower to find Pacifica who’s gone because fighting Bill Cipher twice apparently wasn’t enough.</p>
<p>She glares at the fake Lil Gideon and continues up the stairs.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Pacifica can’t stop dreaming even though she isn’t asleep and she can’t wake up even though she’s already awake.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>On the fourth landing, Dipper is waiting. He crosses his arms over his chest and taps his foot and Mabel knows exactly what he’s going to say but she doesn’t even pause here, doesn’t let this simulacrum of her brother even try to speak, just continues up into the darkness.</p>
<p>She hears a scream.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Bill Cipher screams. He cannot physically manifest in their world, can only manipulate their subconscious, and everything he’s thrown at Shooting Star has failed so far and why couldn’t it have been Pine Tree? He would have been so easy to manipulate! But Shooting Star… Shooting Star has lived entire lives in Cipher’s creations. It’s why he could reach her so easily, and it’s also why she’s so much better at resisting him than he wants her to be.</p>
<p>So Bill Cipher Screams.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>The tower shakes, and still Mabel climbs.</p>
<p>The scream is shrill and piercing and still Mabel climbs.</p>
<p>The staircase begins to crumble and Mabel runs and leaps and jumps and then the staircase turns to a slide and she tumbles back down the way she came, sobbing as she slips quickly away from her goal.</p>
<p>“No!” she shouts, scrabbling at the smooth walls, trying to catch any purchase.</p>
<p>It cannot end like this.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>It’s sloppier than he’d like, but it will get the job done.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Dipper slips out by pretending he has to go to the bathroom. He’s lucky he’s still skinny because the bathroom window is more of a joke than a window, but Dipper makes it out and he sprints into the woods before anyone can stop him and he knows he’ll be grounded worse than he’s ever been in his life but at least he’ll have tried to find Mabel.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Mabel curls up in the darkness at the bottom of the tower, sobbing and wailing and cursing Bill Cipher.</p>
<p>In the darkness behind her closed eyes, he appears, glowing gold and grinning. “Nice try Shooting Star,” he says. “But you’ll never reach her without me.” He holds out his hand for her to shake.</p>
<p>“No,” Mabel whispers. “No.”</p>
<p>Bill shrugs. “Fine, then. You’ll never see her again.”</p>
<p>Mabel’s whole body shakes as she reaches for Bill’s hand.</p>
<p>And the tower begins to shake again.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>When Dipper finds the tower he almost doesn’t believe what he’s seeing. If he were anywhere but Gravity Falls he would assume hallucination, but the impossible happens every day here. He circles the base of the tower but with no markings on the stone he can’t figure out how to get inside. He steps back, craning his neck to try to find the top, but it stretches to high into the sky. He crosses his arms over his chest and squints, trying to think.</p>
<p>He steps up to the base of the tower again and this time runs his hands over the stone as he circles it. Still, he finds nothing, but something happens. The moment he touches the stone the tower begins to sink into the ground. He keeps circling, though he isn’t sure that’s necessary, and slowly the tower gets shorter and shorter and now he can see the top and there’s a window and maybe his sister and Pacifica are through there?</p>
<p>He walks faster, pressing his hands against the stone, praying and hoping, his heart racing.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Mabel draws her hand away and pushes herself up, stepping away from Bill. Her back hits the wall and she tries to shrink against it as Bill stalks towards her, hand still held out.</p>
<p>“It’s now or never, Shooting Star,” he says. Mabel shakes her head. Bill’s eye goes red and he seems to burst into flames and Mabel turns her head and looks away and the wall disappears and she falls backwards into Dipper’s arms.</p>
<p>“No!” Bill shouts but he was never there, only in her head, so she doesn’t react, just hugs her brother tight and tries to stop her sobs.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Dipper says, over and over.</p>
<p>But it isn’t okay because they still don’t have Pacifica.</p>
<p>Mabel steps back from Dipper and looks behind her at what was once the tower. Now there’s just a broken array of stones surrounding a cracked altar. And no sign of Pacifica.</p>
<p>“She has to be here,” Dipper says.</p>
<p>“But where?” Mabel asks, her voice hoarse after all the crying. She stalks past the broken walls and circles what was once a room, studying every cranny that could possibly hide anything, slowly working her way towards the center. She dreads what the altar could mean, where Pacifica could be.</p>
<p>But she also knows it’s probably the answer.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>“I can wake you,” the golden triangle says. Pacifica kind of remembers him but also mostly doesn’t and she’s still a little confused by the fact that he is a triangle and he has a face and can talk. “Just shake my hand and the world is yours.”</p>
<p>But Pacifica doesn’t want the world.</p>
<p>She just wants –</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Mabel and Dipper push the top of the altar as hard as they can and with a scrape of stone on stone it moves, revealing a hollow beneath. Pacifica lies there, eyes closed, completely still. Mabel jumps in, ignoring Dipper as he starts wondering about traps, and shakes Pacifica by the shoulders.</p>
<p>Pacifica’s eyes slowly blink open and she squints up at Mabel and...<em>smiles</em>?</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>She just wants Mabel.</p>
<p>And here she is, shining like an angel, half-crying and half-laughing as she and Dipper help Pacifica out of this strange place and into the forest.</p>
<p>There are no bowing animals and no gnomes cheering, just leaning on Mabel as they trudge back towards what counts for civilization around here. And that’s really all Pacifica needs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Epilogue: The Rule of Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Have a bonus chapter this weekend!</p>
<p>Thank you Harlequinaide13 for the excellent prompt. I hope you enjoyed this story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bill Cipher floats in the darkness and watches Pine Tree, Shooting Star, and his newest toy escape his clutches once again.</p>
<p>But the fact of the matter is, they’re not home free. Not yet. There’s a little thing none of Ford’s research has uncovered yet and that is the rule of three.</p>
<p>Three times Bill will enter their world, three times he will have the chance to make it his, and only if they can rebuff him that last time will they ever be free.</p>
<p>He’s made two attempts, and he’s not done planning his third.</p>
<p>One day, Gravity Falls will be his.</p>
  </div></div>
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